# Small-country intelligence services

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Small-country intelligence services," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/small-country-intelligence-services/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of dealing with the intelligence services of very small states — Djibouti, whose entire service he says occupied less space than his rented townhouse, and whose director's office was half the size of his living room. His operating rule is that respect is the whole of the tradecraft: address the director as Your Excellency, and doors open that money cannot.*

- **Example given:** The Djibouti intelligence service
- **Its size, per Kiriakou:** Smaller than his rented townhouse; the director's office half the size of his living room
- **The method:** Treat them with respect — *"you call the director your Excellency"*
- **Others named:** Jamaica; Fiji; Bolivia; sub-Saharan African states

**Small-country intelligence services** are a category [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says he has dealt with extensively and is rarely asked about. Presented in May 2026 with the question of what his experience was with the services of *"really small countries like Jamaica or Fiji or Bolivia or random sub-Saharan African nations,"* his reaction was that nobody had ever asked him that before.[1]

## Djibouti

His illustration is a visit to the Djibouti intelligence service, and the measure he reaches for is his own house. *"I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that this very humble rental townhouse that I live in was twice the size of the Djibouti intelligence service."*[1]

He narrows the comparison to the man at the top: *"my humble little living room here, which has room for a couch, a chair, a coffee table, and a TV — I'm looking at it — was twice the size of the office of the director of the Djibouti intelligence service."*[2]

## The method

The lesson Kiriakou draws from the small services is about manner rather than resources. His practice, across many such countries, was to go in and *"treat them with respect"* — addressing the director as *"your Excellency."*[2]

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Irish intelligence services](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/irish-intelligence-services)
- [The Jordanian intelligence service](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/general-intelligence-directorate)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 34:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2093s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/
2. John Kiriakou Podcast (2026-05-28), at 35:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSIp9kONVA&t=2125s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-28-john-kiriakou-podcast-john-kiriakou-podcast/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/small-country-intelligence-services/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt